


fly me to the moon and back

by vintageroseriver99



Series: take my hand, let's go travelling. [2]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-13
Updated: 2013-07-13
Packaged: 2017-12-19 08:43:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/881769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vintageroseriver99/pseuds/vintageroseriver99
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a variant on 'Smith and Jones', Martha does still have a role to play, but doesn't become the Doctor's companion this time around. Doctor/Donna shipping! Reviews and kudos are appreciated greatly!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Donna POV

"So, where are we headed today?" I asked as I walked in to the kitchen, planning on getting some breakfast for myself.

"Well I know it doesn't sound very interesting but I've been detecting alien life signs at St. Hopes hospital in London, I wanted to go and check it out and it'll give you a day on the TARDIS if you don't want to come with me." Giving me the option to do either, does he want me to come? I asked myself, knowing I'd get an answer from the TARDIS; of course he does.

"No, I'll come with you if you don't mind. I'd prefer to get out of here, I can't stay inside for a very long time without getting bored." Stating the honest fact that I wasn't an indoors person.

"Me neither, we're gonna get on like a house on fire!" We were already landed somewhere, I could tell, she felt too calm to be in the vortex.  
After eating and getting ready we met in the control room, him in the same clothes as yesterday, me in jeans and a top.

"Let's go." He said and stretched out a hand to me, after last night, after he supported me while I cried, I felt like I could trust this man with my life. "So how are we gonna play this? We need to go undercover but since there's two of us and I don't want us getting separated we're going to have to go with patient and visitor rather than both patients. So do you want to be visiting me, or me visiting you?" I could tell from the look in his eye that he favoured one of the options but I couldn't tell which so I went with the logical option.

"You can be the visitor, I mean at least they can take my blood, you're not human remember?" I stated sarcastically as we walked out of the doors of the TARDIS, I thought we would have looked like right weirdos but we didn't get a second look from anyone.

"Yes, I know." He replied snarkily, tugging on my hand and pulling me further to the right.

Doctor POV

As we walked through the doors of the hospital I still had Donna's hand in mine, but squeezing it a little tighter. I looked up at her and saw her with her hand at her head, wincing in faux pain, I got my hand free to put it around her waist protectively. She looked up at me but didn't let the act slip, she smiled through the 'agony' and then bent over crippled, very convincingly.  
We were soon assisted by a nurse, bombarding me with questions. I answered them all, as well as I could and said she had woken up from her sleep like this. I was posing as her husband John Smith and she was my wife Donna Smith, suffering from terrible migraines. I acted as if I was distraught, and refused to leave her while she continued her charade. I sat with her the whole time they were checking her over holding her hand, reassuring her, and then suddenly everyone went crazy and they told me I had to leave.

"No, please don't go John, stay with me." She begged as they insisted that I leave, I tried to fight my case but it was no good.

"I promise, I'll be right outside the door Donna, I'm not going anywhere." I told her matter-of-factly as I rose to leave, just as I was about to let go of her hand, she tugged on it and looked in to my eyes. The fear in them was real, she wasn't acting now, she was actually scared for some reason, then the light bulb went off, she was scared I'd leave her in there. "I promise." I let the sincerity of my words show before turning away and walking away, as soon as I was outside I looked back through the window beside the door, and refused to come away from it.  
When a nurse told me I should go and get a coffee, I got a little angry.

"I promised I would stay within a few feet of her, I don't know about you, but I'm a man of my word, especially where my wife is involved." He nodded at me before walking off in another direction, and I turned back to watch as Donna was attached to lots of different wires and tubes, I couldn't tell what for from here. I didn't know why I was so worried about her, this woman I'd only just met, I shouldn't care about her this much when we'd known each other for only a few days. There wasn't actually anything wrong with her as far as I knew although I didn't understand why they hadn't just kept her in for observation, like the plan was.  
I stood outside that room for almost another hour, watching her lie there with doctors and nurses hurrying around her, then I felt something strange happen, it was like an earthquake and there was a very loud crash of thunder outside. Everyone was running around confused, then they all gathered around the windows and I couldn't see past everyone so I asked the nearest person to me what was going on.

"We..We seem to be on the moon." The woman who had answered me ran off in another direction, calling someone's name - probably a relative - through the crowd of people.


	2. Chapter Two

Donna POV

I was still lying there, on a hospital bed, wondering what the hell was happening. All these doctors and nurses had been rushing around, talking to each other about me, when there wasn't actually anything wrong. But then there seemed to be an earthquake or something and everyone ran out of the room, leaving me on my own in there. I was beginning to think I should probably get up and find the Doctor when he rushed in, headed straight for the window.

"It can't be." He said in a tone of utter disbelief, forgetting I was still there.

"What, Doctor? What 'can't be'?" He spun around on his heels to me then stood for a moment, mouth agape, before setting to work at disconnecting me from all the machines I was attached to. As soon as I was loose I jumped up and ran toward the window, I only got a moment to see it before I doubled over in agony, with my head in my hands, wondering what was happening to me. The Doctor rushed to my side to help me back to sit on the bed, letting me lean against him as I made my way back across the room.

"Donna, what's wrong? What's happening, there's something wrong and I need to know what so that I can help you. Please Donna, tell me what's wrong?" If I knew then I would have given him a straight answer right then and there, but I had absolutely no clue what the matter was. All I knew was that my head felt like a drum.

"I don't know Doctor, but it's my head, it's pounding. I'll be fine though, don't worry about me, more pressing issue: WE'RE ON THE MOON!" I announced plainly, I had come to realize already - in the short time that I'd known him - the Doctor was a magnet for trouble, especially alien trouble.

"Yes, I know. I'm going to check outside quick, try and figure out how everyone is still breathing. Don't go anywhere Donna, I'll be back as soon as I can but right now I can't have you running around while you're sick." The Doctor said, and as much as I hated to admit it, I wasn't in a fit state to be running away from aliens right now.

"Okay but you'd better be back soon or I'll come looking for you spaceman!" With a swift nod and a wink, he headed out of the door, closing the door behind him.

Doctor POV

After watching in pain like that, I couldn't help but worry even more - here I was stuck with at least 1000 people on the moon, with a very high risk of death for all of them, and I was worrying about one single human more than all of them.  
After walking down a few more corridors and into one of the wards, I overheard a woman explaining to her rather distraught companion that everyone should have suffocated already, she seemed smarter than the majority of the people here so I thought she was my best shot.

"Excuse me, I'm just wondering, is there a balcony or a veranda or something? I wanted to go outside." I stood beside her at the window, where she was looking out at the moon's surface in complete awe.

"Yes, there is in the patient's lounge, I'm coming with you though." She said, although I couldn't help but wonder why she wanted to be the first to risk heading outside when there was supposedly no air out there.

"Sorry, what was your name?" I asked, thinking I should probably find out, seen as this woman appeared to be the only one with half a brain in the whole vicinity.

"Martha, Martha Jones...and you?" Am I John Smith or The Doctor? Just how much should I tell her? I wondered and opted with the latter, she seemed to be quite level-headed about all of this anyway so what harm could a name do.

"I'm just the Doctor, that's what everyone calls me anyway." I stated matter-of-factly, looking at her as I said it, before walking out on the balcony and into the cool air of the atmosphere.

"Oh, well as far as I'm concerned you have to earn that title. Anyway, how come we're still breathing, there isn't enough oxygen on the moon for humans to breathe so what it retaining the oxygen that was contained in the hospital before...well before we ended up on the moon?!" Usually I was the one who could answer all of the questions and sound clever and impressive, but this time I was as clueless as the next person.

"I don't know, but if something's keeping the air in, there must be a forcefield or something keeping the moon's atmosphere out." I said before picking up a piece of loose paving stone and throwing it outwards, as far as I could. It soon came into contact with a barrier of some type, we watched as it collided then bounced backwards a little as the invisible shield rippled.

"But if that's like a bubble, holding the oxygen in, what happens when the air runs out?" Martha asked, hoping the inevitable answer wasn't going to escape my lips, not that there was anything else I could say.

"Everyone in this hospital is going to suffocate, unless we figure out a way to get back to Earth." There's always hope. I told myself, there's always a way out even when it's impossible to escape.


	3. Chapter Three

Doctor POV

Running back to the room in which I had left Donna, I couldn't help but hope that she was feeling better, it was going to be hard enough for anyone to survive this if they were well, let alone ill. Martha was still beside me, asking where we were going and I told her, I had to check on my wife and that we were a lot more involved in extra-terrestrial activity than was good for us. As soon as we got to her room I crashed through the door, expecting to see her still on the bed but instead I found her pacing up and down the room.

"Thank god! Where the hell have you been, you were ages, and who's she?" She asked me with a raised eyebrow, still seemingly Donna-like, and she didn't appear to be ill anymore. When I had left her she was running a temperature and she was in apparent agony, yet here she was now, seemingly fine and dandy.

"Donna, how are you feeling? What happened? You were ill, but now you seem fine." I walked over to her and put my hand to her head - which seemed cool enough - and hugged her quickly before pulling away to listen to her explanation.

"Chemisty GCSE, A*. Only this I was any good at, I was always good with medicines, I made the worlds best hangover cure after my first night out so I just got a few supplies from the cupboard and made myself a migraine cure, not as thick as I look ya know!" She explained, probably expecting to see my relieved face but instead I let even more worry spread across it, humans didn't come up with efficient migraine cures for another few hundred years, she's most likely damaged herself more.

"Donna, what did you use? You can't possibly figured out that cure successfully, you might be at death's door and you won't know about it." After giving him a long list of medicines and telling him to calm down, she looked at him smugly as if to say 'smarter than you though ey Spaceman?'

"I'm not joking Donna, nobody figured that out before the 25th century, no-one in this galaxy anyway!" She had told him how to make a medicine that wasn't available to anyone - not even catkind - for another few hundred years, it was impossible that she'd figured this out.

"Well I did, alright, we can figure that out later. For now, let's just try and resolve the issue that we're on the blinking moon, alright?" Even in the most dangerous circumstances, Donna didn't lose her attitude, it was reassuring. I nodded quickly before making for the door, followed by both Donna and Martha.

Donna POV

When we made it to the ground floor we were greeted by a very large fleet of rhino-like aliens, and this woman who seemed to have joined our group, had to be told what was going on. I listened as the Doctor explained to her the whole 'I'm an alien' thing, then told us both that the 'rhinos' were Judoon, the equivalent of an intergalactic police force.

"Sorry," I said. "Still not getting who you are, and why you aren't screaming bloody murder like everybody else?"

"I'm Martha Jones, I'm just a lot more level-headed than everyone else here. I'm only here because the Doctor thought it might be useful to have someone who knows their way around the hospital about." She explained and I looked at the Doctor, waiting for him to tell me there was another reason but I didn't get a word out of him.  
We made our way up to the top floor so that the Doctor could try and find out exactly who, or what, the Judoon were looking for. Martha went to speak to 'Mr. Stoker' and ask if he knew anything about who it could be and I waited with the Doctor while he continued to try and find some information on the computer.  
Martha was in luck, she found Mr. Stoker - dead, being drained of his blood by an alien - and we ended up being chased by some alien slaves. The Doctor managed to kill one of them, almost getting himself killed in the process and we had to try and track down this alien - who was hiding in the form of an old woman - so we separated off, Martha took the lower floors while me and the Doctor took the higher.  
Eventually the Doctor figured out where she was and told me to hold the Judoon up, and of all the things he could have to done to help, he kissed me - full-on snogged me - then ran off. After they found me and catalogued me as 'human with non-human trace' I was dragged by them toward the Doctor and I assume I passed out from lack of oxygen or something because I don't remember much else after that.


	4. Chapter Four

Doctor POV

The last thing I remembered was the plasma-vor assimilating from me, the rest was up to Donna and Martha, hopefully they would figure it out. Obviously Martha did somehow because I woke up to find Martha, leaning over me and barely breathing, giving me the last of her oxygen.

"The scanner...she did something." Then she passed out, I clambered over to the power supply and after remembering that the sonic screwdriver had broken, had to figure out how to drain the supply to normal way. Luckily enough I did, turned it off and then carried Martha's body down the corridor, looking to find Donna somewhere.  
I wasn't pleased with the state I found her in, unconscious and almost dead. There was a very bright flash and I knew that the hospital had been returned to Earth. Both of the women came round at about the same time, Martha got up straight away and after giving me a rushed account of the events she ran off to find her colleagues. Donna came round only a few seconds after she had left and when her eyes opened, I was so relieved I just pulled her into my arms without thinking.

"Excuse me martian boy," She said, pulling away from me to hold me at arms' length. "I'd like to know why you thought that kissing me in the middle of a crisis would help anything. Don't suppose you've got an answer for me, huh?" I stared at her apologetically, hoping she wouldn't be too angry at me.

"It was a genetic transfer, I had to hold the Judoon up so I needed to make you appear human on the scan so that they didn't kill you, but enough non-human trace to initiate a full scan. It was the only way, I'm sorry Donna. We were acting as husband and wife anyway." I added cheekily at the end, hoping to lighten the mood.

"Fine! But don't make a habit of it, life-or-death situations only, hmm?" I couldn't help but laugh, she didn't yet know quite how much kissing that entailed.  
We made our way out of the hospital together, surrounded by people arriving back to their families and we walked out, blending in with everyone else. Just as we were about to re-enter the TARDIS, the both of us looked back and saw Martha Jones being hugged by her sister, we waved and she smiled back, acknowledging the gesture.

Donna POV

Once we were back in the TARDIS, the Doctor threw his coat over the back of an old chair and looked at me, deep in thought.

"What?" I asked, wondering what he could be thinking about, hoping it wasn't something bad.

"I'm still wondering about you." I raised at an eyebrow at him, still unsure of what he was referring to. "That medicine you made, it's impossible that you've figured that out already, you should be a millionaire. It's impossible, but then again so are you Donna Noble, so are you."

"It's not very difficult Doctor, I mean really it is. Chemistry was the only thing I was ever good at anyway, still is really, that and office work. I'm not impossible, not even unlikely, I'm every Tom, Dick and Harry, nothing special here." I said, trying to prove to him that making such a basic painkiller was not the work of geniuses, it was simple.

"You're not, you're amazing you are and I don't see why you won't accept it. I suppose I can let you continue in your off-world brilliance as long as you don't start selling it off to everyone, that could change history, okay?" I nodded half-heartedly, that's the one thing about the Doctor that annoys me most, above all else. He always tells me I'm amazing, trying to get me to believe it, when everybody knows that I'm not, never have been and never will be. "Hey you, what's wrong now? Have I said something wrong?" He asked as he came over to me and put a hand on my arm comfortingly, it was strange how I'd known this man for such a short time yet he made me feel so safe just with his presence. Shaking my head I looked down at my feet, hoping that he would drop the subject and go back to what he had been doing, but I already knew that he wouldn't he was the Doctor.

"Honestly, I'm fine. There's nothing wrong, I'm just a bit dazed from everything that's happened today, I'm still a bit of a newbie, you have to remember that!" I said jokingly, please fall for it please fall for it, I kept praying in my head.

"I know it's not that, you were fine after everything on Saturday, you seemed happy on Christmas so it can't be that. Now come on, spill the beans - that is the right term isn't it, on Earth - tell me everything." He said in a caring but still slightly demanding voice, I huffed defeated, knowing that he wasn't going to let it go now.

"It's just you!" I said, he frowned disappointed, thinking he'd done something wrong. "Not in that way silly! It's just when I'm around you, you make me feel like I'm brilliant, just these past few days you have. You show me these wonderful things and I get to see them and it makes me feel special, so I hate it because one day I'm going to end up back in Chiswick, in my old life, wishing I felt like this again because I'm not anything important really it's just that somehow you make me feel like I am and well..." I had to take a break for air in my mini-rant but decided it was best not to continue when I saw the look of pure upset in his face, I knew I must have said something wrong.

"I'm sorry." He said and I didn't know what he meant at first, what could he be sorry for? There was nothing to be sorry for, I didn't think there was anyway. After seeing my confusion he tried to explain further. "I'm sorry for my selfishness, you're not the first one to tell me you feel like this, one of my old friends told me that when she came back to Earth, she didn't know what to do because, after I show you all of these wonderful things in the universe, you just end up back where you started in your old life like nothing changed. I never saw it that way before but now I understand and I'm sorry."


	5. Chapter Five

Donna POV

"I didn't mean it like that, Doctor." I said, but I could see the doubt in his eyes as I said it."Really I didn't, it's not just what you show me, it's what you say to me. When you saved London from the Racnoss, you told me that you couldn't have done it without me and today you congratulated me on helping to save the people in the hospital. But really I have nothing to do with it, you're the amazing one who does everything I just come along for the ride so I can see all these things and be your friend through it all. " I tried to explain to him, trying to prove to him that there wasn't anything special about me, I really was just a temp from Chiswick who was lucky enough to meet an alien who invited her to travel with him.

"Stop being so self-deprecating please, I can't handle it, I'd rather you were egotistical that self-doubting Donna. You're wrong, so wrong. If it wasn't for you on Saturday, I probably would've drowned and if it wasn't for you today, the Judoon would've killed me. You're amazing, and I know it's going to take a lot of effort to make you believe that but I'm not going to stop trying until the day you accept it." He was wrong, I knew he was, I expected this man could get his way out of anything, easily without my help.

Doctor POV  
I felt guilty, but I always did when I had to have this sort of conversation with anyone, although Donna had surprised me when she brought this up, usually people don't feel like this until after they have left me, not after they've only known me a few days. It was always difficult to tell them that I had to leave them behind, but this was completely new territory because I couldn't tell her that I wasn't ever going to leave her, not that that was the kind of reassurance she needed anyway.

"As long as you are travelling with me, I will spend every waking moment trying to prove to you just how important you are, because what I said on that rooftop the other day was a lie, not many people could help save the world in their wedding dress." It was going to take me a long time and a lot of work to prove to Donna Noble, that I didn't just choose anybody to come with me, they have to be brilliant to get this opportunity, and she was completely deserving of it.

"Fine! But it's gonna take you a long time Spaceboy and a lot of saving planets!" She said jokingly before coming closer and leaning in to my shoulder, arms wrapped around my waist and I held her tightly to me, we stayed in that embrace for a few more moments before she pulled away slightly to look in to my eyes and all I could see there was doubt, and fear - not like in the hospital but still fear - and I couldn't help but kiss her.  
I was still mourning the loss of Rose and I wasn't one for moving on quickly but it just felt right, as soon as I did it I knew I was in for a slap but I thought I'd best make the kiss worth it. My lips met hers and though they stayed in a pursed position at first, I began to feel her responding - very mildly - and kissing me back, ever so softly. I wasn't going to be the one to break away and she didn't when she had the chance, so my tongue inched out of my mouth to stroke her bottom lip lightly. I was careful in doing so, giving her the option to respond or ignore it, she responded lovingly and opened her mouth for me to enter.  
It may have lasted seconds, or it may have lasted hours, it was eternal yet abrupt, it lasted a lifetime but still ended too soon. When we broke apart, I wasn't greeted by an angry face or a slapped cheek, just an innocent smile before she walked away, towards her bedroom and I took my time to follow her not wanting to force her in to talking about it.  
This wasn't to be rushed, neither of us wanted things to escalate fast, but they were welcome to evolve in their own sweet time.


	6. Chapter Six

Donna POV

After a quick shower, I was in my pyjamas, almost ready for bed and I pulled out my diary to record the events of the day.

Dear Diary,  
I don't know how I can continue making entries everyday, I always struggle with what to write on extremely emotional days, and every day with Doctor is emotional in one way or another. My life has become a roller coaster ride, and it's hard to write down the experience. We went in to a hospital, in disguise, so that the Doctor could investigate some alien activity he'd detected and I had to pose as his ill wife. Turns out I was actually ill, I had a terrible migraine and they probably would have kept me in if they could, but I was in a hurry to find the Doctor so I made myself a cure - easy enough - and I felt fine after that. These intergalactic police that looked like rhinos - the Judoon - were looking for this 'plasma-vor' who was pretending to be human but it was all okay because they found her in the end. The whole hospital ended up on the moon though and we nearly all suffocated but the Doctor fixed it, just like he always does.  
We met a woman called Martha Jones, who turned out to be rather brilliant and a lovely woman, anyway when we got back to the TARDIS, the Doctor figured out that something was up and he wanted to know what. I tried to get him to leave it but that man can be very determined so eventually I gave in and we ended up having this massive heart-to-heart, then he kissed me. I know, he already kissed me once today - for life-saving purposes - but then he goes and kisses me again and it wasn't for any serious reason, he just did it. The worst part is, I kissed him back and...liked it, and now things are going to be awkward between us because straight afterwards I walked off and didn't say anything to him. Now I'm worried that he's just going to take me home or something and I can't ask him what's going on so I'm thinking of asking the TARDIS, anyway will update tomorrow on how things have progressed or haven't progressed.  
Goodnight,

I was about to go to sleep but I knew I wouldn't able to sleep properly without knowing how he had reacted so I asked the TARDIS what had happened. He wants to talk to you about it, but he's worried how you'll react. I received in my mind and knew there was only one way to resolve all of this so I rose from where I was lying, pulled on my dressing gown and put on my slippers then headed for the door.

Doctor POV  
I was getting ready for bed when I sat down to fill in my diary, wondering how much of today could be put in to simple words.

Dear Diary,  
Today was certainly eventful, it was both amazing and terrifying. I was being nosey in to a hospital that had been giving off some alien signals over the past few days and I couldn't tell what exactly it was so I was going to go and investigate it on my own, but Donna said that she would be happy to tag along. We posed as husband and wife, Donna was 'suffering from migraines' which ended up being closer to reality than I liked. The whole hospital ended up being transported to the moon with everyone inside, because the Judoon were looking for a plasma-vor who had been hiding on Earth. It was all a bit stressful, everyone nearly died but it was okay in the end because I turned off the mainframe before the MRI scanner exploded and destroyed half of Earth.  
While we were there I had to conduct a genetic transfer between me and Donna, which was okay because it was to save millions of people. But when we got back to the TARDIS, we were talking about how she could have possibly made a cure for migraines, hundreds of years before anyone was supposed to figure it out, then we had this massive conversation about how she didn't think she was good enough to be travelling with me. Then we kissed, full-on kissed, and she walked off, though not in an angry way, she just didn't react at all. Now I'm not sure what to do because I don't know what this means, it was more just that I had an impulse to kiss her and so I did. But I've only just met the woman and she's brilliant and I want her to keep on travelling with me but I think she might want to go home after everything that's happened. I'm just too confused by all this to write it down tonight.  
Goodnight.

I was just about to put it back in the drawer when I heard a knock on the door and I straightened up where I was sat, I was wearing nothing but my pinstripe pyjamas and I wasn't sure where my dressing gown was so I would have to stay like this. I shoved the book in the drawer and welcomed her in. She walked in slowly, clad in a thin silk dressing-gown and small cotton slippers and stood by the door for a moment before moving toward the end of the bed.

"So, I think we should talk about this, it's better if we keep everything out in the open than keeping secrets from each other yeah?" I gave a small humble nod and looked at her, waiting for her to continue. "So you can start, purely because I don't know how to. Just say what you're thinking, I promise not to slap you."

"I give you full slapping rights Donna, I can be a complete idiot sometimes, just not too hard please." I said and received a slight smile from her in return. "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be saying really, I just want to apologize for any tension there may now between us and I hope that my actions earlier this afternoon haven't affected our friendship. Sometimes I can do stupid things and act without thinking, I wasn't thinking what effect this could have on our relationship before I did it. Say something please." I finished there because I didn't really think how much more I should disclose, she could set the boundary and I wouldn't cross it.

"Okay, first there's no need to apologize, you were comforting me when I was upset and that is completely acceptable. This isn't going to change anything I promise you, I will be as little or as much as you want me to be. If you need me to act as your friend, I'm right here, and if you need me to act as your wife, you just ask. You are here for me, just as much as I am here for you and I know that you will always support me the same way I promise to support you. In the short time that we've known each other you've become my best friend and I will be here for you in any way that you need, okay?" She looked up at me and gasped audibly, she must have noticed the tears on my cheeks, that I hadn't meant for her to see. "Oh Doctor, what is it? What's wrong, did I say something?" Always assuming something is wrong. I thought.

"I've had lots of great friends throughout my years, Donna, even best friends. But none of them have ever said anything like that to me. Thank you." I said simply before she came over and hugged me tightly, like only a real best friend could.


End file.
